Tonight I attended a meeting of mainly wealthy Indian businessmen. They were gathering to celebrate the impending nomination of John McCain by his party, and their role as visibly political Indians.

The first man I spoke with was Prakash Puram, a staunch Republican since 1978, when Republican senators helped him get a visa for his mother. He told me this:

“The Democrats didn’t help me at all. And the Republicans who helped me said, ‘Remember this when you grow up. Do something for the party.'”

The Republicans were smart. They got a donor for life.

He likes them for other reasons too, he hastened to tell me, because they believe in the values of religion and family (every one of the people I interviewed said the same thing). When I asked him if the Republican emphasis on Christianity bothers him at all, he told me that religion of any kind is good.

Puneet Ahluwalia was there, a business partner of George Allen’s. On Allen’s macaca moment, he had this to say:

“I think Biden should be famous for the donuts thing, and Hillary for the Gandhi at the gas stations. With Allen, it was just a word. I know him so well. He didn’t mean it.”

Ahluwalia said he was one of the few people who emphasized Allen’s record of supporting the US India nuclear treaty (a point nearly everyone there mentioned in McCain’s favor as well), when the macaca hit the fan. He worked out of Allen’s campaign office and now partners with him as a consultant for IT businesses.

The event was full of big-shots like him, one of them – a Dr. Sambhu N. Banik – was appointed a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in June. By Bush himself. Banik insisted I stand in front of his hotel while he ran up to get pictures of him with Bush Sr. and George W., and one of his wife with McCain. Women were conspicuously absent. The three who were there told me McCain has a long way to go in appealing to women, specifically Indians. But Obama was too suspiciously charming for one of them, an employee at the Pentagon who didn’t want to give out her name. She told me he reminds her too much of Bono.

I heard some choice quotes at the event, namely:

“I’m just a regular heart transplant surgeon during the day. This is what I do for fun.”

The constant refrains were that Indians have a lot to gain by lower taxation of the wealthy, and that McCain stands for outsourcing and India’s nuclear power. Banik told me his children are democrats, but that it was a philosophy borne of youth, and one they would grow out of.

One thing about the event: there were a lot of Jews. The American Jewish Committee, a bipartisan, pro-Israel group, was there in full force, with an Indian Jew leading the charge. They had gone to the Denver convention, and there too, partnered with Indians. They talked a lot about the cultural similarities between Indians and Jews, a favorite topic of my father’s. Indians like education; Jews like education. Indians are a relatively successful minority; Jews are a relatively successful minority. Indians tend to be short; Jews…you get it. Here’s a picture of two AJC members – the Indian man told me this Jewish man beside him is his guru.

On one level the event delivered what was to be expected: brown counterparts of rich, white men. But there was a more layered side to it: nearly all of them told me they just want Indians to participate. Whether republican or democratic, it didn’t matter. It is important, they said, that we have a voice.

“It’s not the fault of our parties, it’s the fault of our own,”

said one Digvijay Gaekwad, a member of the royal family of Baroda , and brother to a famous cricket player (I wanted to link to him, but there are a couple of Gaekwad cricketers, and I’m not sure which one he is). He had a distinct understanding of what political involvement can garner:

“Under the name of God we’re willing to pay six figures, but under the name of politics we never sign a check. And everywhere in the world – Trinidad, Kenya – we are suffering. If everyone gave a few bucks to the candidate they like, we’d all have a little political insurance. It’s important, but unfortunately, Indians only come out when there’s food involved.”

Gaekwad was one of the many there who attended the 2004 convention in New York. He said they made sure to offer a big spread there, just as they had here (the event was held at an Indian restaurant owned by a McCain supporter – the food was delicious).

Like every other supporter I talked to, these guys think the Palin mess will blow over. And they believe McCain is their man (though a couple of them were for Romney and Giuliani in the primaries – one of them raised $50,000 for Giuliani’s campaign – he told me a lot of his donors were Indian democrats who he persuaded; “Where was I going to find Indian republicans?” he asked me. I pointed around us.).

“The other guy” was how they referred to Obama. The other guy is not the answer. He will raise taxes and hurt India.

That’s how they began and ended the dinner. Fiercely free-market and small government. Happily traditional. Gleamingly wealthy. And whether you agree with their politics, the image they projected was a powerful one. One of men (and some women) using their money and time to further causes they believe in. Causes that were essentially about being Indian. Ahluwalia told me:

“Indians confuse democrats with democracy. But what we are for is democracy. Freedom to be who we are.”